I found the subject of beginnings and endings, the theme selected by our thoughtful editors Holly Crisp-Han and Marian Margolis, especially meaningful for writing my final column as president of the Candidates' Council (CC). In January, I completed my term, having served two years each as president-elect and president. Conceptualizing a beginning and an ending is a way of bracketing experiences to endow them with particular meanings and significance, for ourselves and the people with whom we are involved.
In terms of psychoanalytic practice, the brackets may be moved to the micro-level to encompass the fresh beginning of a session and its ending 45 minutes later, or even to conceive of small beginnings and endings within the process of one session. We can increase the expanse of the bracket to think about the beginning and ending of an analysis of many years' duration. Since I was ending my tenure on the council, I naturally concerned myself here with that experience.
I was searching for a metaphor to capture the intensely communal and creative enterprise of the Candidates' Council. Having just visited Tibet for the first time, I thought of the mandalas. These are intricately designed pictures made of colored sand by Tibetan monks. They work in a group, and the intense, collaborative effort takes many days to create the beautiful, symbolically rich designs. When one is completed, the monks sweep it away. They gather the sand into a container and empty it into a body of water as a blessing. I read that one meaning of this curious action, to destroy almost immediately upon completion a beautiful work of art, concerns the cycle of life.
This fits neatly, I think, into our subject of beginnings and endings. The Council officers and committee chairs are a dedicated group who are inspired to join in collaborative work that produces valuable programming for their fellow candidates. All this work comes to fruition twice a year, and it is displayed for a brief week during the national meetings. Aside from a program guide that documents what scientific sessions took place and what social events were arranged, there is nothing tangible for those candidates who participated to take home with them. No wall hanging, no money. There is something else I like to think the Tibetan monks understand about an ending: The candidates will have grown by the experiences of collegial cooperation and work, by the friendships that deepen with every encounter, and by the expanded sense of how rich the analytic community is in ideas out there to be newly encountered.
At the CC meeting on January 15, an election was held for a new slate of officers. Phoebe Cirio, our president-elect, stepped up into the position of president. Jamie Cromer completed her second term as treasurer. As a recently graduated and certified analyst, she is leaving the CC, hopefully for other engagements in APsaA. She has been a valuable member of the CC for many years. The three candidates, who ran unopposed for each of the vacating officer positions, are now presidentelect Valerie Golden, treasurer Alex Barends, and secretary, for her second term, Gennifer Lane Briggs.
The officers of the CC put in much time and energy to accomplish the important tasks of our organization. Phoebe Cirio worked on the Candidates' COPE Study Group on Challenges of Training. Jamie Cromer, who handled our budget, found the funds to pay for the videotaping of our new Master Teacher Award session. She also participates in meetings of the American Psychoanalytic Foundation. Gennifer Lane Briggs has done a yeoman's labor in following up with institutes to get a candidate delegate to represent each institute at our CC meeting. I reorganized our four and-a-half hour CC administrative meeting to make it more profitable and enjoyable for candidates to attend the entire time.
In addition to the new officers' election and a general orientation to the committees and opportunities for candidate participation in the CC, we had two programs of clinical interest. Harvey Schwartz, chair of the Certification Examination Committee, led a discussion of a clinical case report submitted as part of the certification process. The outcome of the
Navah C. Kaplan, Ph.D., was president of the APsaA Candidates' Council.
application was not disclosed until the end, when it was revealed to have been a successful one. The CC's popular “Coffee with a Distinguished Analyst,” formerly held early Saturday morning, was included as part of the CC meeting. We were honored to have Nancy Chodorow, the internationally renowned author, feminist scholar and psychoanalytic theorist, join us to present her recent thinking on psychoanalytic theory and practice.
Robert Michels, internationally acclaimed author, professor and leader in psychoanalysis, was the first recipient of the CC Master Teacher Award, presented at our inaugural session, chaired by Valerie Golden. He spoke about the supervisory relationship. The session was professionally videotaped with the aim of creating a video archive of master teachers, available on the APsaA website for present and future candidates.
Sabina Preter, who expertly chaired the CC Scientific Paper Prize/Writing Workshop Committee, was pleased to award both first and runner-up prizes this cycle. Sharon Leak was the winner for her paper “Shame and Guilt in Dyslexia and ADD,” which she presented during the January meeting on Friday morning. Phoebe Cirio was awarded the runner-up for her paper “Surrendering the Body: Suicide in Adolescence.”
Sarah Lusk, chair of the CC Program Committee, arranged two CC sessions on topics of interest to candidates, featuring both senior analysts and candidates on the panels. Sandra Landen, who took over as chair of the CC Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis Committee last June, hosted a dine-around during the week of the January meeting, with Charles Parks, chair of the Committee on Child and Adolescent Analysis (COCAA), as a draw for candidates interested in child and adolescent analysis. I hosted a dine-around as well so candidates could meet each other and learn more about the CC at the beginning of the national meeting week. My institute, the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, generously donated auditorium space for our annual candidates' Winter Bash. This is the social event of the year for candidates to network and socialize in a relaxed setting, with good food and wine. The event attracted 50 candidates and psychotherapy students from across the country, including a contingent of international students from the International Psychoanalytical Studies Organization (IPSO).
I am coming to the end of this article and thus to my opportunity to offer my parting words. I am grateful for the privilege of working with so many dedicated, smart, and funny candidates. You all made my growth as an analyst so much richer. I did not accomplish everything I thought I would, and I accomplished some things I did not know I would. I am confident I am leaving the Candidates' Council in very capable hands. My final words are to all candidates who take part in the activities of APsaA and the Candidates' Council. This was a directive I gave to each of my children at his or her bar or bat mitzvah: Your task is to do better than your parents. I hope the new candidate officers, committee chairs, delegates and candidate members will exceed what we have achieved.
Editor's Note:
This column was adapted and updated from the recent Candidate Connection Newsletter.